Watched GARDEN STATE this weekend, and enjoyed it for the most part, but some plot points in the last half hour had me completely baffled. Can someone help me out?


SPOILERS


My problems following the film's plot start when druggie Mark takes Large and Sam to collect a "going-away" gift for Large.

First of all, what the heck is that place they visit where people peer through holes at two people having sex? At first, I thought they were looking at unsuspecting people in a hotel room--the place appears to be a hotel--but when we see what they're seeing, it's just a porno flick. What is this place supposed to be?

Second, it's been shown that Mark steals personal items from graves earlier in the film. OK, fine. But who's the guy in the boat that Mark, Large, and Sam go to see, and who has Large's mother's necklace? How did he get it? Did Mark steal it at some point? Or are we to take that scene only on a metaphorical level (ie, the boat guy went "into the abyss" to retrieve the necklace from Large's childhood)?


The Velvet Blog

On your second point, I think he definitely stole the necklace at some point, and then, in an act of redemption, tracked it down to the person ended up with it. I suspect that Mark worked a bit to follow the path of the of the fenced jewelry.

It's a hotel, but the projection was meant to be a camera obscura I believe.

First question.
The place is a seedy hotel... the kind that charges per hour versus per night. The place they walk through is supposed to be the underbelly of the hotel... where people are voyeuristically looking on at the illicit activities of hotel guests. The camera obscura shot that appears to be coming from a projector, is actually just meant to be that someone has taken a lense onto a peephole and we are seeing the image from that lense on the wall (if you pause right before the camera pans to the right... you'll notice the lens attached to the peephole). The sex scene involving the actors in this sequence was shot early on, prompting many in the crew to wonder what kind of movie they were shooting. They cut a scene involving a 50 yr old guy displaying self love... and on the set Zach and crew had to teach this guy, who claimed to be a novice how to perform this... and that an overhand technique was not how to do it. I'd also like to point out at the 1:12:16-1:12:17 you can see a crew member in a blue jacket quickly duck out of frame a la a vending machine to the right... as Andrew, Sam and Mark approach... and when we see a reverse of them walking with vending machine behind them, the crew member in the blue jacket is suddenly instantly gone. I've also thought the previous scene at the hardware store has a brief funny moment with a guy buying a can of paint (right before they walk up) that seems to react to the camera suddenly being placed on him by grabbing the can and darting off frame.

Second question.
The original title of the movie was "Large's Ark." This scene depicting an ark where they recover his mothers necklace can be ready many ways... we see a happy contented couple that perhaps mirrors the future that awaits Andrew (Zach) and Sam (Natalie)... to a redemption between friends... to the cgi abyss and its symbolism. The cut from Andrew, Sam and Mark standing on the crane to panning out towards the bottom of the abyss is a beautiful cgi shot matched up with a real shot and still of the actors. This part of land where the ark was dressed (boat was bought for a $1 dollar by Judy Becker) in South Orange is now all condo's.

Movie exec linked to NJ mob suspect.

Ah, the irony.

No, no - he's talking about the news press, ya see. Not the cleaners.